Consumer advocacy group CitizenWatch Philippines on Thursday urged the Senate to prioritize the passage of two bills protecting creative workers and consumers alike from online content piracy.
Former lawmaker Christopher Belmonte said the Senate has to act fast in passing the Online Site Blocking Act (Senate Bills 2150 and 2385), which are also being pushed by the Private Sector Advisory Council, to uplift the local creatives industry.
“This administration has repeatedly emphasized the central role of digital technologies in our nation’s economic life,” Belmonte said. “But technology has its pitfalls — in this case, it has become a platform for onwline piracy, which makes it even more difficult to curb. Thus, we have to act fast.”
The pending bills seek to amend and strengthen the 26-year-old Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines and give more teeth to the Intellectual Property Office to enforce anti-piracy measures. The IP Code in its current form does not include electronic and online content in its definition of pirated goods.
Belmonte said that piracy kills Filipinos’ innovative spirit and deprives content creators of fair compensation for their invaluable work.
“Original content is what makes creators unique and indispensable to society. The creative industry is already threatened by untrammeled artificial intelligence. It needs to be protected from those who seek to profit easily and unfairly,” Belmonte added.
He warned that the resulting erosion of morale would eventually cause creative workers to pursue other fields, thus endangering the viability and spirit of the arts.
“The current cyber landscape is haven for cyber criminals stealing intellectual and real property of netizens. No one is safe,” Belmonte said.
“The operators of piracy websites are making a big killing out of the hard works and big investments of producers and creators of original content,” he added.
In May of this year, the House of Representatives approved House Bill No. 7600 authored by Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda that would give authority to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) to block websites that violate the Intellectual Property Code and expands its enforcement functions to investigate, gather intelligence, and develop countermeasures to piracy.
The bill will also establish the responsibilities and guidelines for Internet service providers to block websites hosting pirated material.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that the creative industry is a vital contributor to Gross Domestic Product, accounting for approximately 7.3 percent or P1.6 trillion of the gross value added in 2022.
The local film industry, specifically, has bore the brunt of online piracy, even as it is already struggling to compete with foreign productions and streaming platforms. A 2018 report by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) revealed that online piracy caused a 47 percent decline in box office sales and a 72 percent drop in legitimate online transactions in the Philippines from 2012 to 2016.
During the pandemic, when most people were confined to their homes, piracy became even more rampant, with an estimated P1 billion in potential revenue losses to local video producers, distributors and aggregators, according to Media Partners Asia in 2020.
Moreover, there was a proliferation of sites promoting the Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC), whereby minors are exploited to perform sexual acts and streamed online. Other sites deceive users to share sensitive data for cyber-attacks on individuals or institutions alike.
Belmonte added, “The ideal situation is to be one step ahead of the pirates,” said Belmonte. “In a rules based, democratic society, the first step is to have responsive policies that will provide the regulatory and enforcement powers that have the right balance of nimbleness and safeguards that will allow authorities to purge and apprehend these online piracy operators.”
“If the government is not ready to support our creative industry the way South Korea has created a global footprint for their entertainment industry, then we should at least protect the intellectual properties of our rich pool of creative talent already highly valued and making their mark in the international market,” Belmonte stressed.